Potions
by Folaan
Summary: My take on Unspeakable Harry with a twist. Here Snape is a good guy, Dumbledore is as manipulative as ever and there is a lot more to Hermione than Harry ever knew.


A/N: This is to tide you guys over for a bit before I resume Orphan`s Musings. I know, believe you me, that irregular updates are horrible! In my defense, however, I got very, _very_ sick last month and it took me quite a while to get better. Needless to say, being bedridden with a seemingly never ending fever put a dampener in my creative juices. Not to worry though, now I am fully recovered and chapters should appear more regularly.

Concerning this particular story, this is a prologue of sorts that I've written about a year ago. It`s not too bad but I wasn't all that happy with it at the time. Still isn't to be quite frank, but I do think it holds promise to be, if not riveting, at least a good read. Be warned: major OOC on Snape's part. I do think he is a stinking git so this is an effort in trying to portray the extreme opposite of that.

Enough of my ramblings, on with the story!

Potions

Potions turned out to be the worst sort of class possible. What with Snape being a total arse and asking him questions that he would obviously never know the answer. That and deducting points for whatever he did – merlin forbid if he had to breathe! He would surely lose points for that absurd offense.

He was just glad that the class would last just five more minutes. Five more minutes are, of course, an eternity when you are being tortured or humiliated and Harry was suffering both on the hands of the greasy Potions master. It would take a bit more minutes after those previous five for him to leave the class though.

"Mr. Potter, stay after class." Snape said just after the bell rang.

Harry silently cursed his luck. 'Damn it's lunch now and this greasy git of an arse is keeping me here just to torture me a bit more. And the tarball is doing this on purpose!'. Now, cursing one's luck and actually doing something about it are two _entirely_ different things as he was just about to learn.

Once the last student left, Snape quickly drew his wand and before Harry could even register that as an attack and draw his, the greasy Potions master was putting spell after spell on the room, his wand waving in intricate movements. Oddly as it may sound, Harry saw him as a Maestro conducting an orchestra. A greasy git of a Maestro, to be certain, but a maestro nonetheless.

"Now that we are in a safer environment Mr. Potter, I would like to tell you a few things since you have just rejoined the wizarding world" he said while motioning for Harry to sit in a chair while he sat on the edge of his desk, at the front of the class.

"Why do you think I treated you the way I did when you stepped inside this drafty and dank potions lab?". Harry could swear that the overgrown bat from hell was smirking and he could even see a small smile tugging at the corner of his lips.

"May I be honest without fear of losing any house points for it?" Harry said somewhat testily.

Snape let out a full belly laugh at this and would have laughed more in all likelihood had Harry not given him a withering glare.

"You may Harry, please feel free to share your thoughts without any fear of retribution or molestation."

'Huh, Harry now is it? Why do I get the feeling that I am in for a ride and I am not going to like it one bit?'

"To be honest, _sir_, I am eleven years old and I have no idea whatsoever why you hate me so much that you felt the need to harm an entire house on my account. I just don't know where does your hate come from, but rest assured I won't be breaking a sweat trying to understand it."

"Fair enough, that's what I expected to hear" he said casually walking towards Harry's chair, "however I am going to show a few bits of information that will be very… enlightening to you." He stopped pacing and went to one of his many cabinets waving his wand in a yet another odd pattern. The cabinet shimmered away and a hole appeared in the wall revealing that it was a safe of some sort. Snape then withdrew a small basin, richly carved with runes all around it and placed it in front of Harry.

"I most assuredly did sound like an arse, as I _know_ that is what you were thinking. This will give you some answers as to _why_ it had to be that way." Harry could hardly believe himself, but he could swear that the professor was being much less confrontational now that no one was around. He was sounding as if he was… _kind_.

"This is a pensieve and I could tell you all about the many fascinating things it can do. For now, however, suffice to say that it is a projector of sorts. It projects one's memories much in the same fashion a movie would do. You will note that it is far more powerful as it is a _vivid_ recollection. It's safe as however an arse I may appear to be, I wouldn't harm any of my pupils."

Harry was getting confused a mile a minute. Projections? Movie? How the hell the greasy git knew about that? For all he knew the professor detested everything muggle so how on earth would he know about things like that?

"Well, one picture is worth a thousand words like they say. We don't have much time Harry, please just lower your head till it makes contact with the silvery substance."

Reluctantly Harry nodded and proceeded to do just that. In the blink of an eye he found himself in what could certainly be a horror movie, an extremely bad one. A few moments later he could feel another presence by his side which made him turn quickly only to find his potions professor by his side.

"What you are seeing here is a memory of an event that happened ten years ago. What you are seeing is what I saw when I was nineteen years old." Suddenly Snape became introspective and downtrodden. Verging on sad, really.

"What is this professor?"

"This, Harry, is your house and the corpses you see are of many aurors that died defending it from the dark forces that reigned free and rampant all those years ago. This was their garden. Originally there were four aurors at all times securing the house. You can see their corpses all around the entrance." He said as he pointed to three dead men and a woman. They were all eviscerated and provided a very disturbing sight making Harry want to retch right there.

"As I told Harry, this is much more _vivid_ than one of your movies." Snape said pondering what he would say next. Pointing to the corpses, he continued. "Fabian and Gideon Prewett. Those two were older than me by a mere two years and were known in Hogwarts for their penchant for pranks. They were also as Gryffyndor as they came, brave to the verge of stupidity. They shouldn't have died that day… no one should've." His air became somber yet again. Harry wondered what the hell was going on but decided to go along for the moment.

"And the woman, who was she?"

"Madeleine Stockwell, twenty eight. She was the most experienced auror on duty that night. She was a prodigy in Defense and was able to take down five death eaters on her own before dying. She was a Hufflepuff and sure did make her house proud that day." He now let a small, sad smile appear on his face. "She left a husband and a tiny one-year old daughter who, for the better or worse, turned out to be a squib."

He came to a full stop on the last corpse, a male seemingly in his thirties, not much older than Madeleine.

"That," Snape said, pointing to the man that was on top of all the other bodies. It seemed that he died trying to defend all four of them with his body. His was also the one in worst shape, being evenly divided in two. His torso was on top of the others while his lower limbs were a good five feet away. "was Edward McGonagall, a Slytherin. He wasn't a normal auror as he worked in the Department of Mysteries as well. He was also a genius at Potions achieving his mastery at the tender age of sixteen", Snape let out a quiet sob and hastily tried to wipe away a tear that threatened to fall, "as well as your current Transfiguration's teacher only son." Steeling his resolve, Snape motioned for Harry to follow him inside the house.

"Everything I accomplished in potions was under his tutelage. In two years he taught me more about potions than any book ever written. He was the best master a pupil could ask for." Going further inside the house they were now in the hallway where a man with striking resemblance to Harry lay there on his back. His eyes were open and so utterly lifeless.

"That," Harry said trying to contain a sob and tears that inevitably would leak, " was that my… my father?"

Snape was very quiet that moment and spoke very softly. "Yes Harry that was James Potter. He was a Gryffindor as you well know. Despite what many will tell you we were not estranged or bitter enemies. Even if we disagreed with many things he was a great man." "Now on to the hard part Harry. Let's go up these stairs."

Slowly, just like a scene from a Hitchcock movie, both professor and pupil went up the stairs. Once they reached the second floor, Snape urged Harry to go through the last door on the right.

Harry knew how his mother had died but nothing prepared him for the vision of the Dark Lord himself. He stopped on his tracks, petrified. He saw the bargain that Voldemort tried to make with her, one she steadfastly refused. He could see every detail on the Dark Lord's face, the pleasure he was having in terrifying them and this woman in particular. He saw when she covered his tiny body with her own, murmuring a soft incantation while she did so, so soft that he wasn't able to hear it at all. He saw the glee of satisfaction when Voldemort cast the killing curse on her and the millisecond of surprise and despair when he saw that the second killing curse, one destined to Harry, rebound on the baby and hit him fully in the chest.

The Dark Lord, however, didn't crumble in a bungle of undignified heap as he should have. His body did fall, however a dark mist surrounded it and after bellowing a roar full of rage, it vanished through the window.

Harry felt a slight tugging sensation in his temple and a mere seconds later he was back in the potions master dungeon.

"How was I able to acquire that memory, Harry?"

Still shocked by what he'd seen, Harry was having a hard time trying to put his mind back to work again.

"I don't know professor. How did you get it?"

Instead of answering him, Snape rolled the sleeve that covered his left forearm to show a very distinct and impressive tattoo. Harry knew what that meant. Everyone knew what it meant.

"You!" Harry roared, "You were there with him, you let them die! Hell you killed those aurors!" As soon as he said those words he made a mad dash towards the door only to be duly repelled by an invisible force.

"A mix of a repelling ward within imperturbable and silencio wards." Moving towards Harry Snape made a show of withdrawing his wand very slowly.

"Since your master couldn't get me you are now going to finish the job, huh?" Harry spoke with all the contempt he could muster. "Go on then you filthy murderer, do it. Just hope that you don't meet your master's fate."

Instead of doing anything provocative, Snape put his wand on top of the desk and sauntered over Harry that was still sitting in the floor.

"Yes, I _am_ a murderer. One does not enter his ranks without being one." He casually sat in one of the chairs close to where Harry was. "And although I am branded as a death eater, I am not one."

"You said it yourself! You are a murderer, a bastard and nothing short of scum! I hate you!"

"As you well should" his face turned to stone. "Now instead of being entirely Gryffindor to my taste, take a page out Ms. Granger's book and use your brain. You are James' and Lily's son, it would be a miracle if you were an idiot."

Harry was still in a towering rage and could not for the life of him articulate a response.

"Yes, I joined the death eaters. Yes I had to kill to get in, that's how things work with him." He took a pause to breathe. "Now do you honestly think I am so shallow and petty that I'd join him because I shared his bigotry? Use your brain Harry! Who was Edward McGonagall?"

"He was a portions master, and worked for the ministry." Harry replied instantly.

"_Where_ did he work Harry?"

"In the department of mysteries." Came the flat response. Then the small pieces start fitting together in his anger addled brain.

"You were learning potions with him" he said slowly "_in_ the Department of Mysteries." It came out as an affirmation, rather than a question.

"Yes, I was." "What else is the DoM allegedly for?

"I don't know."

"Unspeakables don't just sit around discussing magical theory Harry." Seeing the youngster's confused face, he continued.

"Please understand that what I am about to tell you is one of the most well guarded secrets of this world." Harry nodded in understanding.

Snape got up and started pacing in the room.

"To many, the DoM is just that, a mysterious department where mad men and women tinker with magic pushing its boundaries. That's what most know about it in any case and they are correct."

"That is not _all_ they do, however. The Unspeakables are highly capacitated people, each with a different quality brought together by a single purpose. Do you know what it is?"

"No, but I have the feeling that you are about to tell me anyway" Harry said, still seething with rage.

"Cheeky aren't we?" Snape sneered. "The DoM acts in the capacity of providing the best possible defence against anything that threatens the security of the wizarding world."

"Please excuse me for not correlating that with the fact that you wear the dark mark and you had to commit a heinous crime to get it" Harry spat viciously.

Snape sighed. "I see that despite being mature beyond your years you still are eleven years-old. In times of war Harry, what is the most crucial, most important thing one must have in order to defeat his enemies?"

"I´d assume that Having Voldemort's daily planner would help, huh?"

Snape beamed at him, which, considering that Harry was still angry with the professor, made him all the more agitated.

"Now that's more Slytherin, I should really commend you Harry."

"Save it. Is there a point to this story or you just want to bother me to death?"

"Sigh… and the Gryffindor resumes his act" Snape murmured quietly. Deciding to end things for the day, he moved on.

"In short Harry, the DoM is an intelligence unit, designed to be able to extract information. That information is then passed to the executive branch of our government who will act on it should they find it is needed."

Harry couldn't help but laugh a little. "You're having me on aren't you? You mean to say that you acquired the dark mark, thus alienating you from any semblance of normalcy, just to get information on Voldemort? How twisted and mentally sick is that!"

"Yes Harry, I did." Snape's voice sounded distant for a minute. "I was alone since the moment I was born, much like you. I had both parents, however, but it didn't help me much in any case. My father was a chauvinistic prick that used to beat me and my mother on a daily basis and she, having a demented and twisted notion of what love was, never fought back. One day, as it was bound to happen, he went a bit further than he should've and killed her." He then turned to Harry and pierced him with hard cold eyes "Do you think you had it rough because your aunt, uncle and cousin would beat you on occasion? Try having your own _father_ doing it every bloody day just because he felt like it. You are not the only one in this world that suffers Harry, and no matter what you may think, someone will always have it worse than you. Live with it."

Harry was a bit surprised and even let go of his anger. His life sucked but he came to realize that some people's life could be even worse than his.

"We were asked to commit murder and then we would receive the mark. I can tell you that, despite not nurturing a big share of love for my mother she did strive to get me an education and was as gentle a soul as you would ever meet. She was a witch of some talent in charms and before my father came in the picture, she earned her keep by setting household charms in well to do wizarding houses. She was never a threat to anyone and still that bastard that fathered me killed her."

Snape walked back towards the table and grabbed his wand. After waving it and dispelling all the wards he'd just put, he resumed his account.

"We were told to kill a person, _any_ person. Imagine the recruiter's surprise when I tell him that I just murdered my father? I was branded in a second. Voldemort was particularly… pleased with my apparent disregard to life. It was a perfect situation for me" he approached harry again while holding out a very thin book and handing it to him, "I was able to exact some sort of vengeance and killed a useless criminal thereby earning my way into his ranks to become a spy. You could say I was able to kill three birds with one stone."

Harry was leafing through the thin book as his potions professor concluded his story. The title was odd: "Occlumencia: Incepcio ad Absolutum".

"Read this book Harry, with the amount of information you got today, you will have to guard it well, even from Dumbledore."

All traces of anger apparently gone, Harry looked back to his professor. "Ok I will do it sir."

"Now off you go Harry, with any luck you can still get some lunch."

'And I hope you understand that no matter what, I will still treat you like dirt every single time we meet in public.' Snape cursed his luck. He was the best spy of the wizarding world but that unlike its muggle counterpart, had no perks with it – just constant, never-ending torment and loneliness.


End file.
